For years, the USS Iowa has planned an expensive and complicated move from its main spot near the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the Port of Los Angeles to a location in the port’s SP Slip, adjacent to the new West Harbor waterfront attraction.
But now, the plan is off, with Iowa officials saying the effort would cost “millions of dollars more” than originally estimated.
“We researched costs, feasibility and logistics options to make this move,” Iowa CEO Jonathan Williams said in a written statement. “During the last quarter of 2023, the Iowa team reviewed updated information to help make this decision.”
That included assessments for dredging, mooring, slip dimensions and pier structure at the Southern Pacific Slip — where the port’s commercial fishing fleet is based.
Among those disappointed are the developers of the West Harbor attraction.
“I understand it, but I’m disappointed,” Alan Johnson of Jerico Development said in a telephone interview on Tuesday, Jan. 16. “I kept thinking we’ll figure this out, it makes so much sense, it was meant to be. I loved the idea and thought it would be great on all fronts.”
It wasn’t an easy decision, Williams said in a Tuesday telephone interview.
“It is disappointing in some ways,” he said. “You work through every one of the issues and I always look at my role as a nonprofit.
“We are the community’s organization,” Williams added, so “‘What is my responsibility to the community, to our supporters and to our staff and crew?”
Originally, a few years ago, he said, the costs were estimated at about $8.5 million.
“But that ballooned to close to $20 million and it would continue to balloon,” Williams said. “The connection was going to be awesome between us and West Harbor. But at some point, you have to stop and say, ‘Is that the smartest use of public funds?’ And I, personally, couldn’t answer that question with a ‘yes.’”
An e-blast announcing the decision is…
Read the full article here
